Aliens: My Alien, Daeus

Chapter Eighteen

Edited: 5-20-24

Void's POV

It wasn't hard to learn the names of the two new Honeycombs. Mint and Unit . . . weird names, but then again, Yupo was an odd sounding name as well. I think what helped me to understand their names was the fact that while everything else sounded animalistic, the names sounded sort of like English even though I knew they weren't. But after pulling away from hugging the female, Daeus had shown me a picture of all four of them together and I learnt that they all actually lived here. The three rooms I'd never thought about entering had in fact been their rooms.

The second day of knowing the two new Honeycombs, I was comfortable with all four of them. Daeus was mine, but Yupo and Unit and Mint were my friends. Any one of them would be willing to help me if I needed it, but first would always be Daeus.

I spent most of the morning with Mint and Unit, content to just play with them. I knew I had to get used to them, the guilt of having kept Daeus away from all three of them trumping any fears I had of them. I trusted Daeus so I had to trust them and if my trust was miss-placed then I could be shot down. By the time the afternoon came around, I was thoroughly tired. Yupo had made lunch for the Honeycombs and I drank another bottle, but even though I was ready for a nap, Daeus surprised me by attaching the leash onto the harness when I wasn't paying attention.

Startled, I turned to look back at my Honeycomb, grabbing the leash in question. "You can't spend the rest of your life inside. If you're to live a healthy life, we'll have to be able to take you outside without you being scared." Daeus put a hand on the side of my cheek as he spoke. I let go of the leash and Daeus gave me a small smile. Hopefully it wasn't nothing too bad.

As he walked to the front door, I followed, sticking close to his side. He wanted to take me outside? But . . . why? I didn't need to go outside. There were so many other unknown things outside that it scared me. Could he protect me from all of those things? Could he keep me safe while out in a big, big world. I didn't know anything about his world and that made the thought of going outside made that much more scarier. He could just keep me inside and I would be happy, but I knew he wouldn't be happy being stuck inside and I wouldn't be happy without him by my side.

Daeus opened the door and took a step outside. I halted at the doorway. Over my time staying here I've overcome many fears and I've been happy. For the first time in a long time, I've been able to be happy and content. Looking up into Daeus' eyes, I realized that I didn't have to be scared anymore. As long as Daeus was with me, I didn't need to be frieghtened of the unknown.

With a hesitant step, I left the comforts of the house and followed Daeus outside. Yupo, Mint, and Unit followed us and when the door closed, there was no going back. "Void, stay close, okay," Daeus spoke my name and I stayed close to his side, trying not to think of all the things that could go wrong. I was strong and I had all of my friends with me. With Yupo on the other side of me and the other two following us, I finally let my fears melt away.

The further from the house we walked, the more my curiosity consumed me. The pale blue sky was filled with stark, fluffy white clouds. The dark greenish purple grass looked just as soft as a Honeycomb's fur. The trees were all dark brown and all of them looked somewhat like oak trees, only much, much taller. I was dwarfed in this world, but with Daeus by my side, I didn't have to be scared.

We came upon an open gate and Daeus turned to head inside. I followed eagerly as I recognized the signs of a typical park. Only, in this park, the grass grew naturally on either sides of the dirt path and the foliage was allowed to grow and spread. At the end of the path was a lake and all around the lake, the grass was cut with tables dotted here and there and a weird looking playset on the far side. Except, that was when I realized that we weren't alone.

Here and there, more Honeycombs littered the park. There were many different colors of them and no two had the same color or the same exact pattern. Looking at all the other Honeycombs around us, I realized one thing. All the males had variants of red or purple while the females were either silver/white or green variants. It wasn't just one color. Like Mint was a bright lime green and Yupo was a pastel green. There wasn't a whole lot of strangers in the park, but enough for me to come to that specific conclusion. Maybe that was how I so easily identified the genders.

"This is a park," Daeus took me all the way up to the water and even though my wings itched to go swimming, my shyness of the other Honeycombs kept me by Daeus' side. "If you want to go play, you can. We'll be right here,"

Daeus unclipped the leash, but I had no interest in going to explore the park. The untamed parts of it were a complete no as I would never dream of going in there without Daues. The rest of the park was filled with strangers that I had no want of going to meet. Yupo laid down beside me and I noticed from the corner of my eye how Mint and Unit walked a little ways away and were talking to each other, smiling and laughing. When my eyes met Daeus' again, I couldn't smile. I didn't want to leave him, but I knew he wanted me to step out of my shell, I could feel it like I could feel the cold.

"Is that Tanzii?" As Daeus laid beside me, I relaxed, feeling safe inbetween the two, but when Yupo's words were full of a question, I noticed that she was looking a little bit away from us at a small group of smaller Honeycomb. "What's he doing without his mother?"

Daeus looked at me, but when I made no move to get up or go anywhere, he turned to the group. "Tanzii!" I jumped slightly as he yelled something, probably a name since a lavender colored male turned to look at us.

The male left his friends and came bounding over to us and I used my left wing to cover me as I hid behind it. "What are you doing away from your mother? The last time I seen you, you were only 10." Daeus' voice sounded like he was scolding the Honeycomb and as I peeked out from my wing, I noticed that the Honeycomb was about three quarters the size of Daeus. Considering that his smaller size probably meant he was younger than my Honeycomb, I moved my wing away and sat upright, watching him curiously.

The new Honeycomb smiled. "No longer! Yesterday I turned 16! Me and my division are finally able to be on our own." His tail was swaying happily as he spoke.

"It's really been six years since I last saw you?" Daeus sounded astonished and I was puzzled. Who was this younger Honeycomb? When the lavender male nodded, Daeus looked at me before back at the other male. "Well, I finally found my Bond! Void here is a human hybrid and I rescued him. This is his first time out like this. Do you think you can take him to play, get him to come out of his shell?"

I heard my name and had a bad feeling about what Daeus might have been talking about. "Totally! My mother's bond is the sweetest thing I've ever met. I'm sure we can get him to play. Does he like to play fetch? I don't know much about humans or . . . human hybrids." The lavender male looked at me and I looked away, less curious now and more nervous about who he was.

Daeus laughed. "I doubt he'd play fetch. Humans are about as smart as a child, but smarter than any normal Bond." Daeus' mismatched eyes turned to me. "Go play with Tanzii, Void. Go have fun!" Daue's voice and emotions conveyed happiness and excitement and somehow I could also feel everything else he was feeling and I understood that he wanted me to go explore and have fun.

Not wanting to dissapoint my Honeycomb and wanting to prove to him that I could be strong, I stood up and walked around him to the lavender male. Looking up at him, I smiled, waiting for him to lead the way. I wouldn't touch him, but he was young and if Daeus thought he wasn't a threat, than it wouldn't hurt. I could be strong, I could go out of my comfort zone. It was all in the name of recovery, of being somewhat normal, so as the male bounded off, I raced after him.

~~~~

The day was coming to an end as Tanzii took me back to Daeus. He'd tried to get me to play fetch, but . . I wasn't a dog. Maybe for Daeus I'd play fetch, but not for anyone else. The lavender male was actually quite fun and a thrill to be around. He and his group took me in with them and let me play what I assumed was tag and at one point he went into the lake and I dove right in after him. I'd long since dried by the time I was returned to Daeus, but my Honeycomb had watched me play all day and the feelings of happiness and joy that radiated off of him had me beaming. Making him happy was my only goal.

So as Daeus clipped the leash back on and we headed back, I waved goodbye to Tanzii. Hopefully we could play again, because I've never had fun like that. Not in a long time.